PBP Commentary

Coming up we have a heavyweight MMA rules bout between Joe Leduc (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class) and Cannondale Trail (ranked 0 p4p, 0 weight class). Chooooooooon! I think Leduc might be my favorite fighter, now he's come out to Trivium-Through Blood And Dirt And Bone. Trail has chosen The Norris song as his entrance music. These two fighters really are very evenly matched on the feet - it will be fascinating to see who can assert themselves in that aspect of the fight.

Leduc
vs
Trail

204 cm
30
273 lbs
18 - 13 - 0

198 cm
30
280 lbs
15 - 8 - 0

Great wrestler
Excellent boxer
Insanely flexible

Good wrestler
Excellent MT
Good gas tank

V-Mask Clothing (10%)

Mohito Fightwear

Ladies and gentlemen. This fight is 3 rounds, in the heavyweight division.
Introducing the fighter to my left, fighting out of the red corner.
With a record of 18 - 13 - 0, fighting out of New York, Joe Leduc!
And introducing the fighter to my right, fighting out of the blue corner.
With a record of 15 - 8 - 0, fighting out of London, Cannondale Trail!
The judges for this bout are Tatsuya Matsuyama, Shirou Masuda and Kenichi Hosakawa.

The bell rings for round one and we are underway!
The fighters circle momentarily. Leduc darts into range and connects with a nice straight punch.
Trail throws a combination that misses

and Leduc decides to take the opportunity to score a takedown. He's landed in Trail's guard.

Trail throwing his legs up looking for a triangle.

Trail is throwing his legs up, looking for submissions. Leduc is aware though and is defending well.
The fighters are pressed up against the cage, both looking to find a bit of space to work.
Leduc stands up over Trail, holding his feet. He dives back in and lands a decent shot to the head.
Leduc content to strike from guard, landing some decent shots.
Leduc throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Trail works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
The ref warns both fighters not to hold the cage as they work up against the meshing.
Leduc sitting in guard, not really doing much.
Trail is looking to stand up but Leduc isn't so interested in that idea.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.

Trail is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.
Leduc with a nice head shot there.
Leduc has to be careful here, sitting in the guard of a superior BJJ player.

That's one minute gone in the round.

Trail escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Leduc gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
Leduc postures up and lands some nice ground and pound.

Trail is working actively off his back, looking to secure an arm or perhaps work for a triangle.

Trail escapes his hips to the side and looks to be working for an armbar. Leduc gives him a little smile and shakes his head. No chance.
Trail has momentary wrist control but Leduc slips an elbow through the middle.
Trail looking for a sweep. Not yet Trail, not yet.

Trail has an active guard here but Leduc has managed to pass into half guard.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
The fighters are starting to get a bit slippery now, which will make submissions a bit more difficult.
Trail is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Leduc has been talking about how he's improved his wrestling in the run up to the fight so let's see if that's enough to sway the balance.
Leduc scores with a couple of good hammerfists.
Leduc looks to score some points with some ground and pound.
Leduc throwing shots but Trail is blocking nicely.
Leduc thumps the canvas. Not on purpose obviously - he just missed Trail's head.
Trail is trying to control but can't.

Trail looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Leduc lands strikes from half guard.
Trail wants to get back to his feet.
Leduc is just sitting in half guard, waiting for something to happen.
Leduc thows a wild elbow that connects with the canvas.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Trail is looking to improve his position.
Trail is trying to control but can't.
Trail is looking for a sweep. Leduc is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Leduc wants to control but Trail is keeping him busy.

Trail looking to work for a kimura from the bottom.
Leduc lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.
Leduc is taking a breather. Trail says something to him but it's hard to make out. Perhaps he's telling him to get on with it and actually do something.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Well. There's a bit of a lull in the action here and the crowd are starting to get restless.

Trail looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Leduc is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Trail trying to control here.
Trail is looking for a sweep. Leduc is wise to his cunning plan and keeps the top position.
Leduc landing with strikes to the body and head, softening up his opponent.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Leduc is keen to just control but Trail is a slippery customer.
Leduc is nestled in close to Trail, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.

Trail is looking to sinch up a guillotine here but Leduc pulls his head out easily.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Joe Leduc dominated that round.
OK. That's time! The bell goes and we're back to the action.

Trail rushes in with a sloppy looking punch
and Leduc counters nicely by changing levels and landing a hook to the body.
Trail moving in and out of range nicely, whilst landing the scoring shot.
A punch lands to the side of Trail 's head but he takes it in his stride.
Trail tries a head kick but it misses.
Trail scores to the head and body with a nice combination!

It looks like Joe Leduc has been cut.
Leduc smiles there as he lands a nice right hand right on the button.
Leduc jabbing away but nothing is landing.
Cannondale Trail is looking to throw some combinations by the looks of things.
Leduc lands a straight punch to the body, keeping Trail at a distance.
Trail misses with a straight right.
Leduc changes levels looking for a counter takedown but doesn't commit.
Trail jabs. That one connects to the head of his opponent.
Wooooo! Give it up for these two warriors! They are putting on a show!
A combination from Trail does no damage.
Cannondale Trail seems to be getting the better of the standup.
Leduc avoids the body shot from Trail.
Trail moves his head to the side to avoid a jab but walks straight into a cross.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Trail misses with a hook.
Trail swings for the body but Leduc moves out of range.
Leduc drops down looking for a counter takedown but Trail sprawls and moves away.
Trail throws a low kick but it's checked well by Leduc.
Leduc connects with a right hand. Trail shakes it off.
A shot to the liver by Trail. Beautiful body shot.
Leduc throws a leg kick which misses Trail's front leg but catches the back leg as Trail tries to avoid it.
Leduc scores with a slapping inside leg kick.
Nice body punch from Leduc.
Leduc tries to score with a low kick but Trail moves his leg out of the way.
Trail avoids a kick to the body.
Trail blocks the body kick.
Leduc ducks under a wild hook from Trail.
Leduc tries to counter with a takedown but Trail is quick to defend against it.
Nice shot by Leduc.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Trail lands a slapping body shot.
Trail plants his feet and lands a nice head kick!
We've seen a great period of action over the last minute or so - credit to both fighters for going all out!
Trail fakes high and swings low for a body shot but Leduc manages to avoid it.
Leduc keeping his hands up high there, blocking the jab from Trail.
Leduc walks straight into an uppercut. Luckily it didn't land flush.
Trail jabbing away but nothing is landing.

Trail sets himself and throws a head kick that knocks Leduc to the ground! Trail dives into full mount looking to finish!

Leduc is rocked!

Trail has hold of Leduc's left arm, perhaps looking for a submission. The two fighters tussle over control of the isolated limb and Leduc manages to get his arm back to his side and away from danger.
Oh Leduc is still in real trouble! Will he be able to recover?!!
Leduc is trying to reverse the position but instead Trail has taken his back - oops!
Leduc can't escape the position.
Our spies down at at Thirteenth Legion MMA inform us that Trail has really been working on his submissions in the buildup to this fight. Will it pay off?

Leduc is staying cool under pressure, defending well against the rear naked choke attempt from his opponent.
Leduc seems to have got his legs back now.
Leduc tries to roll but Trail sticks to his back.

That's three minutes gone in the round.

Trail has his hand under the chin of his opponent looking for the choke. He's nearly got it! This one could be all over! But no, Leduc has freed his hand and lives to survive another… well, another couple of seconds at least!
Leduc is in bad spot here.

Trail is working for the rear naked choke. He has one arm under the chin but Leduc has hold of the other arm. A bit of a stalemate here.

Leduc showing good submission defense here.

Trail looking for the choke from the back.

That's four minutes gone in the round.

Trail goes for a risky armbar from back mount and it's not paid off. Leduc escapes and is now in half guard on top.
Leduc is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Leduc is nestled in close to Trail, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Leduc takes a deep breath and rests his weight momentarily on top of his opponent, to control the position.
Trail gets full guard.
Leduc throwing elbows and punches but not connecting, as Trail works some decent striking defense from the bottom.
Leduc landing some decent shots from guard.

Trail looking for submissions from the bottom here. Moving his hips around, possibly looking for an armbar.
And that’s the end of the round – the fighters go back to their corners.

Cannondale Trail showed his class in that round. I'd imagine he'll take it on all the scorecards.
The cut man is working on Joe Leduc's cut.
That's the end of the interval. I'm sure that seemed a lot quicker than a minute for our two fighters! Back to the action. This is the final round!

Leduc connects with a leg kick. He turned his hip over nicely there.

Leduc scores with a takedown into Trail's guard.
Joe Leduc overall seems to be getting the better of the ground position in the fight so far.

Trail is active off his back here, looking for submissions.

Trail has his foot on Leduc's thigh. He's trying to push off and get in position for a triangle, I think. Leduc works his way back into a safe position though.

Trail working away from the bottom but not quite defensive enough there because Leduc has passed into half guard!
Leduc slips a nice elbow through Trail's hands, connecting with Trail's forehead.
We've had a slow start to the round here - hopefully the action picks up.
Leduc stalling.
Ground and pound from Leduc.

That's one minute gone in the round.
Trail is staying active underneath Leduc, who seems content to just control the action from this position.
The referee calls for the fighters to work.
Leduc working some ground and pound from close in. He's looking to maintain this position and strike for a while by the looks of things... although he'll probably advance to full mount in a minute now I've said that.
Leduc trying to control the action but Trail is working from the bottom.

Trail looking for submissions from an awkward position here.
Trail on the receiving end of some nice ground and pound.
Leduc looks towards his corner to check for any instructions. The corner give him nothing to work with, so he cracks Trail with a short hammerfist. I guess that's as good as any advice he could get in this position.
Trail is looking to regain full guard. Not this time though.
Leduc is keen to just control but Trail is a slippery customer.

That's two minutes gone in the round.
Leduc is nestled in close to Trail, controlling him well. He's worked in a nice elbow to the side of the head as well, for good measure.
Trail trying to hold on to Leduc's head to control him but Leduc postures up.
Leduc trying to control from half guard but Trail is working away.
Leduc lands with an elbow from half guard - that looked like it hurt.

Trail looking for submissions off his back.
Trail taking some punishment here, with Leduc in his half guard.
Leduc is scoring with some nice ground and pound from the dominant position.
Still in half guard, Leduc seems content to control.

That's three minutes gone in the round.
Leduc takes advantage of the dominant position to land a couple of big hammer fists.
Leduc scoring with strikes to the body and head.
Leduc has freed up his trapped foot and advances to mount.
Leduc scoring with some good ground and pound from mount here. Will he manage to finish Trail?
Leduc lands with some strikes.
Trail can't escape the position.
Leduc can't quite control the action as he would like just now, as Trail is looking to escape.
Leduc in mount throwing good strikes here, bouncing his opponent's head off the canvas.

That's four minutes gone in the round.
Trail is trying to escape the mount.
BOOM! Leduc connects with a massive shot to the dome!
Trail is trying desperately to improve position.
Trail in a bad spot here, taking shots to the head.
The fans in attendance giving it up for the two fighters, who have really let it all hang out in the last minute or so!
Trail tries to hold on but Leduc pushes him away.
Trail is wriggling around trying to escape.
The crowd thankful this round is nearly over.
Leduc landing strikes from the mount.
Trail is looking to get to half guard.
Trail takes a big intake of breath there - he's definitely tired.
Leduc is landing with some decent strikes but Trail is trying to advance his position so the referee is letting the fight continue.

And that's the end of the fight!
Joe Leduc showed his dominance in that final round.
I think Leduc has won this one but let's see what the judges have to say. Over to the ring announcer for the scorecards.

Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Tatsuya Matsuyama scores the fight 29:28
Judge Shirou Masuda scores the fight 29:28
Judge Kenichi Hosakawa scores the fight 29:28

In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Joe Leduc!
An out of breath Joe Leduc thanked his loyal fans in his post fight interview, giving them credit for his success over the course of his career.
Cannondale Trail was interviewed post fight and said 'Sorry my fans...'.